I'm rather new at all this aquarium stuff and have tried to do my "homework", but i failed at catching cottonmouth in my Betta and it died this morning.
As of a couple months ago, I bought a new 20g tank as my main tank, and relegated my original 10g tank as my quarantine/hospital tank. When I stocked my new tank, I didn't realize that Bettas and Dwarf Gouramis don't do well together--I realized it instantly when I tried to add the new Gouramis into the quarantine tank and the Betta instantly flared up! So the Gouramis went straight into the new tank and the single Betta stayed back in the quarantine tank (which made my daughter happy b/c it's in a place where she can see it more often).
So in the 10g Quarantine tank we had 1 Betta, 2 Zebra Danios (yes..I know you are supposed to have 5, but the others died and I haven't been able to add any more yet), and 3 guppy fry (about 3 weeks).
Recently I tried adding 2 Otos that I received from live aquaria. They both made it about a week in the quarantine tank, but then died. I also replaced the starter cheap-o plastic plants with better quality silk plants…so there have been many disruptions and changes to the 10g tank. I did regular water changes…at least 1x a week, but 2x per week when the Otos died. And I've checked all water parameters and they are fine. So I think either the addition of the new fish and or serious tank disruption in changing plants, etc, must have been my downfall.
Anyway, just yesterday afternoon I noticed for the first time that the Betta had a swollen lip with some cottony stuff around it and he wasn't eating. I researched everything last night and it looks like he had columnaris. I added a dose of Melafin to my 10g tank (as per instructions), and slightly lowered the heater temp from 78 to 76 to try to help him through the night. I ordered Aquarium salt, and Maracyn 1 and 2 via Amazon Prime, but they won't be delivered until Sat. So I was going to drive to Petsmart today (we are about an hour+ away) and try to buy the items there…but sadly the Betta was already dead this morning.
So…my question is really now what to do with my 10g tank?
1. Are the 2 danios and the guppy fry infected? Right now they all seem fine…eating fine and zipping around the tank. No obvious problems.
2. When I receive the maracyn and salt this weekend, do I still treat the whole tank?
3. Is there a high enough danger to the remaining fish, despite them looking fine, that I still should drive to the pet store ASAP rather than waiting until Sat delivery of the treatment products?
4. How long must I reasonably wait before adding additional fish? I really wanted to add those extra danios (if I'm driving the distance to Petsmart!) and my daughter is devasted about not having a Betta fish. But I don't want to add new fish if the tank isn't safe.
5. When the guppy fry are large enough, I had intended to move them to the big tank. That is surely at least 4 weeks away. Do you think they will be "safe" by then? Or will they need to stay in the 10g tank?
6. I have 1 small net and 1 medium net. I used the small net to scoop out the dead Betta. Is it safe to use in my main 20g tank? Do it have to be "sanitized" in any way?
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
As of a couple months ago, I bought a new 20g tank as my main tank, and relegated my original 10g tank as my quarantine/hospital tank. When I stocked my new tank, I didn't realize that Bettas and Dwarf Gouramis don't do well together--I realized it instantly when I tried to add the new Gouramis into the quarantine tank and the Betta instantly flared up! So the Gouramis went straight into the new tank and the single Betta stayed back in the quarantine tank (which made my daughter happy b/c it's in a place where she can see it more often).
So in the 10g Quarantine tank we had 1 Betta, 2 Zebra Danios (yes..I know you are supposed to have 5, but the others died and I haven't been able to add any more yet), and 3 guppy fry (about 3 weeks).
Recently I tried adding 2 Otos that I received from live aquaria. They both made it about a week in the quarantine tank, but then died. I also replaced the starter cheap-o plastic plants with better quality silk plants…so there have been many disruptions and changes to the 10g tank. I did regular water changes…at least 1x a week, but 2x per week when the Otos died. And I've checked all water parameters and they are fine. So I think either the addition of the new fish and or serious tank disruption in changing plants, etc, must have been my downfall.
Anyway, just yesterday afternoon I noticed for the first time that the Betta had a swollen lip with some cottony stuff around it and he wasn't eating. I researched everything last night and it looks like he had columnaris. I added a dose of Melafin to my 10g tank (as per instructions), and slightly lowered the heater temp from 78 to 76 to try to help him through the night. I ordered Aquarium salt, and Maracyn 1 and 2 via Amazon Prime, but they won't be delivered until Sat. So I was going to drive to Petsmart today (we are about an hour+ away) and try to buy the items there…but sadly the Betta was already dead this morning.
So…my question is really now what to do with my 10g tank?
1. Are the 2 danios and the guppy fry infected? Right now they all seem fine…eating fine and zipping around the tank. No obvious problems.
2. When I receive the maracyn and salt this weekend, do I still treat the whole tank?
3. Is there a high enough danger to the remaining fish, despite them looking fine, that I still should drive to the pet store ASAP rather than waiting until Sat delivery of the treatment products?
4. How long must I reasonably wait before adding additional fish? I really wanted to add those extra danios (if I'm driving the distance to Petsmart!) and my daughter is devasted about not having a Betta fish. But I don't want to add new fish if the tank isn't safe.
5. When the guppy fry are large enough, I had intended to move them to the big tank. That is surely at least 4 weeks away. Do you think they will be "safe" by then? Or will they need to stay in the 10g tank?
6. I have 1 small net and 1 medium net. I used the small net to scoop out the dead Betta. Is it safe to use in my main 20g tank? Do it have to be "sanitized" in any way?
Any and all advice is greatly appreciated. Many thanks.
